Ryan Seacrest blames Simon Cowell for 'American Idol' ratings slip

By Christopher Rocchio, 06/11/2007

From an early change to daylight-saving time to a lackluster cast, numerous theories have been bantered about as to why American Idol's sixth-season ratings fell slightly from previous installments of the Fox mega-hit. However host Ryan Seacrest has his own take on why the numbers were down slightly.

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"Well, the knee-jerk reaction would be [Idol judge Simon Cowell]," Seacrest told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper on Friday. "Clearly there's an over saturation of his character."

Much was made about the banter between Seacrest and Cowell during Idol's sixth season, and it apparently hasn't subsided since 17-year-old Jordin Sparks was crowned the winner at the conclusion of its late May finale. But Seacrest said part of the reason why he feels Idol has been so successful is due to the relationship he has with Cowell and fellow judges Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.

"It's still 30 million-plus viewers, which we're very happy with," Seacrest told the Globe and Mail. "I'm positive you can't recreate the chemistry that we have with the group onAmerican Idol."